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The council approved a $600,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit surrounding the 2013 police killing of Larry Eugene Jackson Jr., closing a nearly two-year legal battle against the city. The wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit was filed on behalf of Jackson’s parents and widow. In August 2014, the council agreed to pay $1.25 million to Jackson’s three children under a different lawsuit.

This resolution directs city staffers to explore the feasibility of creating a live-work community for artists with the nonprofit Artspace, which develops, owns and operates arts facilities. The city-owned land under consideration is at 4711 Winnebago Lane in Southeast Austin.

The council gave city staffers the go-ahead to work on acquiring 25 additional properties from willing sellers in the Williamson Creek flood plain — even though the city has only enough funds to buy about seven homes. Buying those other 18 homes could take about $8 million.

This vote also marked a shift in the city's flood buyout policy. Up until now, the council had limited buyouts to homes that were threatened by the 2013 Halloween floods and are still owned or occupied by the same people who lived there during that flood. Of the new set of homes now eligible for buyouts, 23 didn’t have significant flooding in October 2013, while the other two had flooding but had changed ownership.